Betrayal
by dawn341
Summary: Richie is betrayed by another crew member on Moya. Part 3 of my Farscape/Highlander crossover. Follows: Farscape Project and Hope.


Betrayal by Dawn Cunningham

I wrote this story many years ago.

None of the characters in this story belong to me. I'm using them without permission and receiving no monetary gain.

Do not post or publish this story anywhere else, without my express permission. Feel free to share it with others as long as the disclaimers remain intact.

Warnings:

This is a crossover story between Highlander and Farscape.

There are spoilers for season 3 of Farscape. However, my universe separates from the Farscape universe before the last four episodes of Season 3. Anything that has happened since then has not happened in my universe (although I reserve the right to use tidbits from anything I think will fit).

If you like the character of Jool in Farscape, you probably won't like this story.

Richie Ryan is still alive. Pick your own reason to explain that. I have my own favorite (see my story Welcome Back), but have made no references to that story or any other reason why Richie might be alive. The simplest explanation is that the episode Archangel never happened.

This is a sequel to my story The Farscape Project. I strongly suggest you read that first. You may also want to read the second story in the series called Hope, although that is less important.

And finally, this story ends in a cliff-hanger. There is another sequel coming - I promise. And I also promise that it won't take too long to complete.

Characters:

From Highlander:

Richie Ryan

From Farscape:

Just about everyone in the cast

* FAR * FAR * FAR * FAR * FAR * FAR *

Betrayal by Dawn Cunningham

"He looks happy," Chiana said.

D'Argo followed the direction of her gaze. John Crichton did indeed look happy as he worked on his Farscape module. While that activity was one of the human's favorite things to do, there was more to it now. And that more was Richie Ryan, who was working right alongside him.

"It's having Ryan here," D'Argo said. "Crichton finally has someone who can relate to his life before Moya. Someone he can talk to in a way he can't talk to us."

"Well, it's been good for him," Chiana replied. "It's taken his mind off Aeryn for a while."

"Yes. Unfortunately, there's little we can do about that situation."

As they watched, Aeryn Sun approached the two humans.

"I'm going over to Talyn to do some maintenance. Do you want to help me out, Ryan?" she asked. It was hard to ignore the hurt expression on Crichton's face, but she refused to get involved with him again.

Richie was surprised to be asked, but quickly agreed. He'd only been on Moya for about three months, and sometimes he got the impression that Aeryn didn't trust him. He'd earned her respect when it came to hand-to-hand combat, but that was about it. If they were going after Scorpius and his command carrier, they would all need to trust each other.

Based on Crichton's stories, Richie had really expected to have run into some aliens by now. But the past three months had been quiet - almost too quiet. While he had a lot to learn, sometimes it was hard to keep boredom from settling in. It didn't help to know that there were all kinds of alien worlds out there that he had yet to see or experience. His only hope was that supplies were starting to run out. They'd have to stop someplace for replenishment within the next month. Maybe he'd be able to go down to the planet to help out.

Aeryn let him pilot the transport over to Talyn, although she looked like she was ready to wrest control back at any moment. It didn't do much for his confidence. Richie heaved a huge sigh of relief when he successfully docked on Talyn.

Of the two ships, Richie liked Talyn much better than Moya. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was because it was smaller, and he had less trouble finding his way around, although he knew Talyn would probably grow to be bigger than his mother, Moya. Maybe it was because Talyn was a warship, whereas Moya was basically a cargo carrier. Or maybe it was just a case of Talyn being another male.

Right now, he turned his attention to Aeryn's directions. He'd been taking a lot of directions from her as he learned how to live and survive in this new universe. She was teaching him how to fly a transport pod, as well as how to operate Talyn's systems. He, in turn, was honing her fighting skills.

Aeryn wasn't the only one teaching him. He spent a great deal of time with Crichton, as well. He took his turn teaching Richie how to fly not only the transport pod, but also the modified Farscape module. He just wished Crichton would dedicate more time to learning hand-to-hand combat. It might keep his friend alive.

Richie tried to concentrate on the work he'd been assigned, but he kept being distracted by Aeryn. He wasn't sure if the woman was deliberately trying to be provocative as she would reach around him for a tool, or whether the way she would brush up against him was accidental. Either way, his body was noticing.

There were times when he hated being frozen forever in a nineteen-year-old's body. It had a tendency to pay too much attention to any good-looking female - just like it was doing now.

But what did he say? What if he was misreading the signals? What if the contacts were accidental? Even worse, what if they weren't? He knew Crichton was seriously in love with this woman, and there was no way he could make a move on her.

Richie almost jumped when Aeryn's hands came down on his shoulders, and she started kneading the muscles there.

"You're so tight," she murmured, applying more pressure.

It felt good, but he squirmed away from her touch. "What's going on, Aeryn?" he demanded.

"It's important that... pressures are not allowed to build up," she said. "Even the Peacekeeper High Command understood that. It's quite common for two crewmembers to recreate with each other."

Recreate. What a bland word to describe what could be the most wonderful thing to happen between a man and a woman. As for her tone, she could have been suggesting that they go for a walk together. "Thanks, but, uh, no thanks, Aeryn."

"You don't find me attractive?" she asked, somewhat angrily.

"No! That's not it," Richie hastened to reply. "You're a very beautiful woman, Aeryn, and in any other situation I'd love to, uh, recreate with you, but I can't. John loves you, and I can't betray him."

"This has nothing to do with Crichton!"

"I think it does. You love him."

"No! I don't love him! He di..."

"He died. And you had to watch that happen. I know that couldn't have been easy on you. And now you're back here, and there's John again, and he's not dead, but you're afraid of it happening again."

"It was the other John that I loved."

"No, you loved John, then that psycho split him into two identical parts. You went off with one, and finally gave in to your feelings for him, but he died. Well, you are the fortunate one, Aeryn, because you still have John - the very same man you fell in love with. Most people don't get that chance." Richie sat down on the deck and patted the floor next to him. "Let me tell you a story about a good friend of mine."

It was clear that she was reluctant, but Aeryn finally joined him.

"My friend is over four hundred years old - make that four hundred cycles old. He's like me - he can't die. He doesn't age. Over the years, he's uh... recreated with many women, but he was a lot like you. He wouldn't let any of them get too close because he knew they would grow old and die, and he wouldn't. But then one day he met Tessa.

"He tried to keep from loving her, but he couldn't. They finally moved in together. He loved her so much that he was willing to risk the pain of her death. I met Tessa after they'd been together for twelve years, uh, cycles, and their love for each other was just so obvious it wasn't funny. Mac used to look at Tessa the same way that John looks at you." Richie sighed as he remembered those days.

"They loved each other so much, that Tessa didn't say anything - well, at least not when I could hear her - when Mac brought home a thief and told her that he was moving in with them. That was me. Their love changed me into a better person. I was there the night she died - killed in a random act of violence." Richie brushed away the tear that rolled down his face. Even years later, that night still affected him.

"Mac was devastated. I wasn't sure if he was ever going to be able to recover from her death. And then one day, there she was again - just walking down the street. Except it wasn't Tessa. It was a woman who had surgery to look just like her. If it had been me, I would have run in the opposite direction. I couldn't understand why Mac would open himself up to that kind of pain again, but he did."

"Because he was a fool."

"No, because he wanted to feel again. He wanted to have Tessa to love again. Because life without love is just survival. He was willing to risk everything in the hopes of having that kind of love again." He looked directly at Aeryn. "The kind of love that you and John shared - and could share again."

"Maybe we could share that kind of love," Aeryn suggested.

"Why? Because I can't die?" When she quickly looked away, he knew he was right. "We don't love each other, Aeryn. Besides, I'd always feel like second best. You can play it safe, Aeryn, and not let yourself love, but is that what you want? Think about those days with your John, and how you felt. Don't you want to feel that again?"

Tears were rolling down her face now. "Getting that involved with someone makes you weak. Vulnerable."

"Or it can make you stronger. There's an old saying on Earth. The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, fighting together you are stronger, than if you were both fighting separately." He rested one hand on her shoulder. "At least think about it. Now, I'd better get back to these repairs."

Richie moved away from her, giving her some time to compose herself. He hoped he'd made things better for his friend, but he wasn't so sure. At least she should stop trying to hit on him.

* FAR * FAR *

"I don't like it," Crichton protested. "It's too dangerous."

"We should find another commerce planet that doesn't have a Peacekeeper taskforce posted on it," Aeryn added.

"But the Peacekeepers aren't looking for *me*," Jool explained again. "*I* am not in any trouble. It would be safe for me to go down and purchase the supplies we need."

"They're not looking for me, either," Richie pointed out. "I could go along with Jool. We can keep each other out of trouble."

Crichton still wasn't happy about the idea. Richie hadn't been on board all that long, and he had never been to an alien planet - except for the one where they buried the rest of the Collaroy crew. Richie had no idea what kind of trouble he could get into.

"I could take them down in my ship," D'Argo suggested. "It would also be something that the Peacekeepers would not be expecting, whereas they may be looking for any Leviathan transport pod. And its defense shield would help should trouble happen."

"But they are looking for you!" Jool protested.

"I will stay on the ship, unless needed," D'Argo stated. "They will never even know I am there."

John liked that idea much better. While he thought it would be better to have Aeryn backing up Richie and Jool, D'Argo was the next best thing. "All right. It sounds like a plan."

"Yes!" Richie exclaimed with a triumphant grin. "Okay, folks, get your shopping lists ready, and Jool and I will shop 'til we drop."

"Buying supplies isn't that difficult," Aeryn stated with a frown. "You shouldn't collapse from it, Ryan."

Crichton tried to hide his smile as Richie tried to reassure Aeryn that he had no intention of exhausting himself. He'd often found himself in the same position of having to explain some Earth saying.

* FAR * FAR *

Crichton watched from the command center as D'Argo flew his ship toward the planet. A part of him wished he had gone with them, but he knew he couldn't baby-sit Richie constantly. The man was more than capable of taking care of himself. He just needed some first hand experience with alien cultures.

"He'll be fine."

Crichton looked back over his shoulder and saw Aeryn enter the command center. "Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. So why do I feel like I've just thrown him to the wolves?"

"Wolves?"

"Carnivorous critters. Well known for their ability to rip their prey to shreds," he explained. He turned back to the view screen. D'Argo's ship was no longer visible. Crichton almost jumped when Aeryn placed a hand on his arm.

"Ryan is a strong fighter. He's intelligent. With Jool along, he shouldn't have any difficulty staying out of trouble," she assured him.

Crichton found himself staring at her hand. It had been so long since she'd touched him - except during their training sessions with Richie, and that had only been to knock him down. It took some effort to raise his eyes to meet hers, unable to hide the hope he was feeling.

Aeryn stared back at him, a lost look on her face. It reminded him of the days right after Zhaan had brought Aeryn back to life. She had been so determined to fight her feelings for him. Before Crichton could think of something to say, Rygel zoomed into the command center, and Aeryn quickly moved away. He could have strangled the little Hynerian.

"How long do you think it will take them?" Rygel demanded. "Our food supply is seriously depleted."

"And you would know," Crichton muttered, still trying to quell his disappointment. "They'll be back when they're back."

"Pilot, are you monitoring the Peacekeeper channels?" Aeryn asked. "That may be our only indication that they've run into some kind of trouble."

"Of course," Pilot stated, his holographic image appearing in the clamshell. "D'Argo has landed on the planet without any problem."

"So, now we wait," Crichton said.

* FAR * FAR *

Richie tried to keep from acting like a tourist as he struggled to take in all the sights. The marketplace reminded him of a Moroccan bazaar that he and Duncan MacLeod had visited during one of their many trips together. Besides the regular shops, there were sellers hawking their wares from tables and tents set up on the street. The only difference was that half of the buyers and sellers didn't look even close to human.

Jool was acting more like a tourist than he was. Or maybe she was just more nervous because she knew what kind of trouble they could get into. No matter what, she kept constantly looking around, especially when they were walking from one shop to the next.

It took them quite a while, but Richie finally crossed the last thing off his list. Everything had been sent to the landing port, and hopefully D'Argo would have his ship loaded by the time they got back.

"That should do it," he told Jool. "We can head back now, and get out of here."

"Clothes! You need to buy some clothes," Jool replied. "You hardly brought anything with you, and I'm sure you would look wonderful in something like that." She pointed toward a store window.

Richie walked over and checked out the outfit. Black leather pants, a short-sleeved blue shirt, and a fingertip-length leather coat. He could easily picture himself in it, but he turned away. He could manage with the few pairs of jeans, and t-shirts that he'd had on the shuttle.

"I don't have any credits to buy something like that," he said, pulling Jool away.

"We have leftover credits from our bargaining. You deserve something for yourself. Everyone else has something personal, so you should, too."

Richie let her pull him back toward the shop.

"Now, go in there and try it on. I'm just going over to another shop for some... female things."

Richie definitely didn't want to get involved in that, so he headed into the shop by himself. By now he felt like an expert at bargaining with the merchants, and it didn't take long to try on the outfit, then make a deal with the seller. He wore the clothes out of the store, carrying his old jeans and shirt in a bag. He looked around for Jool, and spotted her further down the street. For a moment he wasn't sure it was her since her hair had turned a bright, flaming, red color. She waved at him, and he headed in her direction.

"Wait until you see this," she said, grabbing his hand, and pulling him toward a side street.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to not stare at her hair. He wondered if she would get upset if he asked her about it.

"A surprise," she replied with a coy look.

The side street had almost no people in it, and Richie wasn't too sure they should be there, but she kept pulling him along.

"Where are we going?" he asked, slowing down. "I don't see any shops down here."

"Trust me. We're almost there. It's just around this next corner." She released her hand, and almost ran around the corner and out of sight.

Richie sighed, but picked up his pace, not wanting her to get too far ahead of him. He came around the corner, and almost ran into five armed men dressed in some kind of uniform.

Jool was standing on the other side of the men, and now she pointed at him. "That's him. That's the human. Scorpius will reward you for capturing him."

She'd led him into a trap!

The men aimed their weapons at him. "Surrender," one of them ordered.

"I don't think so." Richie said, pulling out his sword. It hardly matched the pulse rifles they were carrying, but maybe he could do some damage before they shot him.

"Take him alive!" another man stated. "Surround him!"

"No! No! Shoot him!" Jool screamed.

Richie watched as the men started circling him. He knew his sword was the only thing keeping them at bay, but it wouldn't last long. Soon they would rush him, and he couldn't handle five of them at once. He feinted toward one man, and as the soldier ducked away, Richie quickly turned and slashed at another. The man fell back, blood pouring from the wound across his chest.

For a moment, Richie struggled with guilt at harming a mortal, then reminded himself sternly that he wasn't the only one at risk here. He knew Crichton would do just about anything to help his friends. He tried the move again, but this time the soldiers were ready for him, and he took a sharp blow against his arm.

Three of the soldiers rushed him, and he ducked under the first, slashed the second in the arm, and hit the third with his fist. For a brief moment there was no one behind him, and he turned to run.

A loud sound filled the street, and he felt like something had slammed into his chest. He felt himself flying back, and it wasn't until he crashed onto the ground did the pain strike. His chest felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't breathe. He realized he was dying, and his last sight was of Jool holding the pulse rifle that she'd just fired at him.

* FAR * FAR *

"Commander," Pilot's voice broke into Crichton's thoughts.

"Yes, Pilot?"

"D'Argo's ship is returning, but he has not signaled Moya."

"Do you think there's some kind of trouble?" Crichton surged to his feet, leaving his half-eaten dinner behind.

"I am not certain."

"Right." Crichton tapped on his communicator, as he started running down Moya's corridors. "Aeryn, Crais, meet me in the docking bay. Pilot, have the docking web ready."

He reached the docking bay first, but Aeryn and Crais weren't far behind. They were both carrying pulse rifles, and Crichton pulled his pulse pistol. While their weapons might not be needed, they had long ago learned to be cautious.

It seemed to take forever before D'Argo's ship had landed, and the door opened. The Luxan charged out of his ship and headed straight for Crichton.

"That so-called friend of yours has betrayed us!" D'Argo almost shouted. "Pilot, starburst out of here! Now!"

"What?" Crichton couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Richie wouldn't betray us. And what about Jool?"

"She told me that Ryan had turned himself in to the first Peacekeepers they found, and was telling them everything. She managed to get away, and contacted me before the Peacekeepers came looking for me."

"Richie wouldn't do that," Crichton insisted. "Besides, we can't leave Jool behind."

"She told us to. She's found some people who can help her get back home. We have to get out of here before Scorpius sends a command carrier here. As for Ryan, I hope Scorpius tortures him for an eternity!"

"Richie would *not* betray us! He wants to get home just as much as I do. As we all do."

"Maybe he thinks the best way to do that is to help Scorpius get hold of you," Crais suggested. "After all, Scorpius is further along in creating wormholes than you are."

"No, I won't believe that," Crichton insisted again, even though a small part of his mind couldn't help but wonder. Hadn't he done things in the last three cycles that he would have sworn he'd never do? Maybe the temptation to get back home was too much for Richie. "Aeryn, what do you think?"

"I hardly know him," she said with a frown. "However, this may be the chance we were looking for. We didn't know how to find Scorpius or his new Gammak research base. Maybe he will come here to get Ryan. Or they'll take Ryan to him, and we could follow."

"There is no way I am going to let Scorpy get his hands on Richie! I don't even want to think about how he could torture someone who can't die." Crichton shuddered as he remembered his own bouts with Scorpius.

"If he cooperates, Scorpius won't need to torture Ryan," Crais pointed out. "And Aeryn is right. This is our chance to find out where their Gammak base is."

Crichton had to admit that they were right, but he still didn't believe Richie had surrendered to the Peacekeepers. "All right. We'll see if this leads us to Scorpy, but I still think there's something wrong with Jool's story. Maybe Richie was trying to protect her, and she misunderstood his intentions."

"She sounded very positive about what happened," D'Argo stated firmly.

"Okay, until we find out more, we'll work on that assumption. I suppose we still need to get supplies."

"No, they'd finished their purchases, and I had them loaded on my ship before Jool contacted me."

"And you don't think that's a little weird?" Crichton asked. "If Richie was going to turn himself in to the Peacekeepers, why would they have finished their shopping first?"

"He's got a point," Aeryn agreed. "Without those supplies we would have needed to remain here, or find another commerce planet very soon. If Ryan was going to turn us in, I wouldn't have expected him to re-supply us first."

"Unless he couldn't find any Peacekeepers, and didn't want to alarm Jool," D'Argo suggested.

"Maybe. Pilot, have there been any communications from the Peacekeepers on the planet?"

"Not yet, Commander. I will keep monitoring."

"All right. In the meantime, I suggest we unload the supplies."

* FAR * FAR *

"Why did you kill him?" Lieutenant Corak demanded. "We wanted him alive. He won't be much use to Scorpius this way."

"I keep telling you that he's not really dead," Jool insisted. "He can't die! If I hadn't shot him, he would have gotten away. And then you would have had no reason to fulfill our bargain."

"How did you find out about him? And that Scorpius is interested in humans? And how did you get to this planet?"

"I was kidnapped by Crichton and the rest of the escaped prisoners from Moya. I had to act like I wanted to stay with them, until they trusted me enough to let me get off the ship alone. Even then, they sent Ryan along to keep me in line. I was never so happy to see Peacekeepers when I ran into your squad."

"And you have no loyalty to these fugitives?"

"Absolutely none. They were responsible for the deaths of my two cousins. I would have killed Crichton myself, if I could have! I even tried one time. Now, I demand that you fulfill your side of the bargain. I want a transport to take me home."

"Not yet. We didn't bargain for a dead prisoner. And you must know where Moya is."

"Up there somewhere." Jool waved her hand toward the sky. "I'm no pilot or navigator. I told you where the transport had docked. It's not my fault that they managed to take off before your troops got there."

Jool hoped they believed her even though she was lying through her teeth. She hadn't been able to handle the thought of D'Argo being captured by the Peacekeepers, so she had warned him before leading Richie into the trap. But there was no way she was going to admit that. Or that she hadn't really been a prisoner on Moya. She just wanted to go home.

Maybe she wouldn't have done this if Crichton and Aeryn hadn't come up with the crazy idea of going after Scorpius and his Gammak base. They were going to get themselves killed, and she had no intention of dying alongside of them.

And it wasn't like Richie could die. Still, she felt a little guilty at using him to buy her passage home.

"Sir. You aren't going to believe this," one of the sub-officers said, interrupting his superior's interrogation. "The prisoner is alive!"

* FAR * FAR *

Richie stared at the locked door to his cell, fighting back the urge to smash his hand into it. It had been three days since he'd been captured, and he'd spent most of it in the cell. Other than when he'd first woken up in some kind of medical center, he'd been here ever since.

They never opened the door. He was given food cubes and water through an opening. He had toilet facilities in his cell, but no way of washing up. He'd kill for a hot shower and a shave about now.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with an escape plan. The electronic lock on his door was way beyond his comprehension. He couldn't jump his guards because they never came into his cell. He had nothing to bribe a guard with - unless he promised to reveal Moya's whereabouts - and he wasn't exactly sure where that was. Not that he would ever do that, of course.

He had to admit that he was surprised that he hadn't been tortured yet. They hadn't even asked him any questions. From what Crichton had said, he had not expected to be left alone. Sure, the doctors had poked and prodded him after he had first come back to life, but then the lieutenant in charge had stopped them, and rushed Richie off to this cell.

Unfortunately, all this solitude gave him too much time to think. He couldn't help but wonder what Jool had told the rest of Moya's crew about his disappearance. For all he knew, she was back on Moya, planning on betraying the rest of them. Or maybe she already had. Maybe they were all locked up in cells, and he just didn't know it.

Maybe that explained why they hadn't tried to rescue him yet.

Or maybe they didn't care enough about him to try to rescue him.

He didn't want to believe that Crichton would just abandon him, but he had to admit that his friend could have changed in the last three years. After all, Crichton had been living with only aliens as companions. He'd been tortured by Scorpius, and had a neural chip implanted in his brain which had been slowly taking it over. He'd been given brain fluid from another alien. And he'd been twinned. Any of those things might have twisted his thinking.

Or maybe Crichton was just jealous that Aeryn had been spending so much time with Richie, and now he had his opposition out of the way.

With a muttered oath, Richie jumped to his feet, and slammed his hand into the wall of his cell. He heard bones breaking but didn't care. He welcomed the pain that would be all too fleeting as a distraction from his thoughts.

He had to stop thinking that his only friend in this universe had betrayed him. He needed to know that there was someone out there on his side - and that someone could only be John Crichton.

There was no one else.

* FAR * FAR *

"I thought Talyn had ways of gathering information," Crichton fumed as he paced around the command center. "Why can't he find out what they're doing to Richie?"

"All of the messages to and from the planet are encoded and on a secure channel," Crais explained, his image wavering on the view screen. "Talyn cannot intercept them. Richie must still be on the planet because no Peacekeeper vessel has left there. Talyn's long range scans would have picked them up."

"It's been three days!" Crichton stared at the Sebacean's image, trying not to let his suspicions show. For all he knew, Talyn knew exactly what was going on, and had told Crais. The ex-Peacekeeper might be keeping that information a secret because he had his own agenda.

He just didn't trust Crais - not one little bit.

"I say we go down and bust Richie out of there," Crichton suggested, sending a pleading look toward Aeryn. If she would back him up, they could easily convince D'Argo and Chiana. Crais would be outnumbered. "It doesn't look like Scorpy is going to show up."

"Talyn's sensors have picked up five Marauders headed for the planet," Pilot's voice chimed in.

"Are we out of sensor range?"

"Yes. This moon will keep Moya shielded from their sensors. Talyn has also retreated to a more secure location, although he has assured Moya that he is quite capable of handling the Marauders on his own."

"No!" Aeryn burst out. "He mustn't give us away yet. A command carrier may not be far behind. That's what we're waiting for."

"And if it doesn't show up?" Crichton demanded. "What if Scorpy is on one of those Marauders? What if they take Richie and leave?"

"It would be highly doubtful that Scorpius would risk his life on a Marauder - especially if he thought that Talyn was around," Crais pointed out calmly. "If anything, he might have sent the Marauders ahead to see if they make it safely, although Talyn is still no match for a command carrier."

"Will we be able to follow the Marauders if they leave the planet?" Aeryn asked.

"Yes, Talyn's sensors will be able to track them quite easily."

"But how will we know if Richie is on board?" Crichton asked. "And what if they split up and go in different directions? How will we know which to follow?" The more he thought about it, the more he regretted not going after Richie immediately. He was still convinced that there was something wrong with Jool's version of what had happened.

"We will just have to assume that he is," Crais replied. "And that they will all head back in the same direction."

"Not good enough!" John snapped out. "I don't want to go on some wild goose chase across the galaxy following a Marauder who's only delivering supplies to some dead-end Peacekeeper outpost."

"Marauders don't deliver supplies," Aeryn pointed out. "They wouldn't have sent that many of them to a commerce planet unless they were afraid of being attacked."

Crichton continued to pace around the command center, trying to come up with a plan. Suddenly he stopped in mid-stride, and spun around to face Aeryn. "Can you fly one of those Marauders?"

"Of course. It was part of my flight training."

"And if they came from the Gammak base, their computers would still contain its location?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this, Crichton?"

"I've got a plan! If we could grab one of those Marauders while it's still on the planet, we would know where to find Scorpy. We could even fly it right back there."

"And we could land on the Gammak base - they wouldn't be expecting us to be in one of their own ships," Aeryn said, quickly picking up on Crichton's idea.

"This is madness!" Chiana exclaimed. "How are you planning on grabbing one of those ships?" "Most of the crews would probably be sent to escort Ryan back to the landing port," Aeryn pointed out. "There would only be a few remaining, at best."

"We only need one of the ships," Crichton added. "We'll hide inside it and surprise the rest of the crew when they return. If we get really lucky, it will be the one they'll put Richie on. In that case, we can come back here, and track down Scorpy later."

"It's risky, but I'm willing to try," Crais agreed.

"Crais, you'd better stay on Talyn. We may need you to track us. Chiana? D'Argo? Will you help?"

"Don't you think we might stand out on a Gammak base?" Chiana asked. "For that matter, how far do you think you'll get? You're frelled if you think you're going to just stroll around without someone recognizing you or Aeryn."

"They won't be able to recognize us if we have on armor," Aeryn pointed out. "Even if the Marauder crew isn't wearing any, there should be some on their ships. With the helmets on, no one will be able to tell that we're not one of the crew."

"Okay, this is what we'll do," John said, detailing out his vision for the rest of the crew.

* FAR * FAR *

Richie's first indication that something was going to happen was when he heard the sound of booted feet marching down the corridor. Lots of booted feet. It was difficult, but he remained sitting. Let them think he was unconcerned about what was going to happen.

The first person who came through the door almost caused him to jump up. There was no doubt in his mind that this had to be Scorpius. He fit Crichton's description, and yet was much worse than Richie had imagined. It was like seeing something out of a horror movie, except this was real life. And there was no doubt that Scorpius was here for him in the way that he studied the Immortal.

Richie forced his eyes away and glanced at the crowd who had followed the Peacekeeper. Lieutenant Corak and another obvious flunky had followed Scorpius into the room, and he could see at least six other people crowded around the cell door. All were wearing helmets, and what had to be armor. They were also carrying pulse rifles. No chance of escape.

"He's not a human."

Richie's attention snapped back to Scorpius as soon as he made that announcement. It took all his willpower to not blurt out a denial of that statement.

"His energy signature is different from Crichton's."

"Guess that means I can go," Richie said with a broad smile as he slowly rose to his feet. "Can't say it's been fun, but..."

"But the other woman... the Interon said he was!" Lieutenant Corak protested as he blocked Richie's way.

"She must have been lying." Scorpius snapped back. He looked at Richie again. "You're also not a Peacekeeper. Who are you and where are you from?"

"Uh... Dagoba. Small planet - you've probably never heard of it. Not many of us ever leave it. Maybe you've met a few who have? Luke Skywalker? Han Solo? Yoda?"

The Peacekeeper's eyes narrowed to almost a slit for a moment before he moved closer to Richie. "Still, there's something about you that does remind me of Crichton. And you are lying about where you are from. I wonder why that is?"

"I'm not lying," Richie replied, trying to put on his most innocent face. He knew it would never have fooled Tessa or Duncan, but hopefully it would fool Scorpius.

"My Aurora chair will quickly determine the truth," Scorpius pointed out.

Richie couldn't stop the shudder that ran through his body. Crichton had told him enough about his stint in the Aurora chair - even though it had been difficult for him to talk about the experience - to make the young Immortal know that he was in deep trouble. To make it even worse, Scorpius seemed to know that he had struck a chord in his opponent. He gave Richie a thin-lipped smile.

"So, you know about my Aurora chair. I wonder who has told you about it." Scorpius turned back to Corak. "And you say he was dead, then came back to life?"

"Yes, it was quite a surprise. I had him isolated right away since he is an unclassified alien species. No one has been near him since then."

"Good. I will be sure that your superiors are made aware of your excellent work." Scorpius turned and headed for the door. He held up one hand to signal to the waiting soldiers. "Bring him!" "What about the woman who turned him in?" Corak asked, stopping Scorpius in his tracks. "Should I arrange for her to return to her home?"

"No. Kill her. It will be a lesson to all that we will not tolerate traitors."

"No! You can't do that!" Richie protested, even as his hands were being locked in handcuffs behind his back.

Scorpius turned around and approached the Immortal. "Why would you care? She betrayed you."

"That doesn't give you the right to kill her!"

"Sir, we made a deal with her," Corak pointed out more calmly than Richie. "All she wants is to return home. What harm can there be in that? After all, she's done a great service by turning in this alien."

Scorpius glared at the lieutenant, who immediately stepped back. "Follow your orders, Lieutenant," he snarled before stalking out of the room.

The soldiers behind Richie pushed him forward. He managed to throw a beseeching glance at the lieutenant as he was herded out of the cell, and down the hallway, surrounded by the troops. While he'd been betrayed by Jool, he didn't want her to die. He could only hope that Corak wouldn't follow orders - although he doubted that would happen.

For the first time in days, Richie was finally out of his cell. A few moments later, they were outside, and headed for the spaceport. He could only hope that Crichton would rescue him before they got there. This would probably be the best time for a rescue - except for the fifteen well-armed soldiers guarding him.

* FAR * FAR *

Crichton studied the spaceport once more. Due to other ships in the area, the Marauders were not close together. There were three sitting in the middle of the port. Another was quite some distance away, but there was no cover near it. They'd be out in the open and quite visible to the crew. The final one was off to one side, but close to the other three. If any of the Marauder crew shouted for help, the crew from Moya would be in trouble. However, there were storage sheds close by to hide behind.

As far as he could tell, there were two commandos guarding each ship, but they were on high alert - pulse rifles poised and ready for anything. Now it was all up to Chiana.

Crichton turned to the Nebari. "Do you know what you have to do?"

"Of course," she said with an impudent grin. "It's hardly a challenge."

"Just be careful," Crichton cautioned her.

She grinned at him again before heading over to the Marauder, carrying a bag of drugged reslak. All she had to do was entice the two commandos into their ship, and get them to drink some of it. Even if they didn't have any, if Chiana got them inside the ship Crichton and Aeryn would be able to get the drop on them.

At first he didn't think his plan would work. The commandos kept shaking their heads to whatever Chiana was saying. He wished he was close enough to hear what everyone was saying. Finally, the Nebari ducked between them and dashed onto the ship. She paused at the top of the ramp, and threw the commandos a coquettish look over her shoulder before going inside. The two commandos appeared to be arguing with each other, then one of them followed Chiana. After looking around nervously, the second one also entered the ship.

Crichton heaved a sigh of relief. "D'Argo, you wait here. If anyone comes before Chiana gets back here, start shooting."

D'Argo nodded. "I know what to do." He placed one hand on Crichton's shoulder. "Take care."

"Thanks, big guy."

"Let's go," Aeryn said, somewhat impatiently. "We don't know when the rest of the commandos will be back."

Crichton and Aeryn moved closer, keeping the sheds between themselves and the other Marauders. Eventually, they had to leave their safety and cross the open area in plain view. Crichton kept expecting to hear a shout, or the sound of a pulse rifle being fired. However, it seemed that the other commandos were too busy looking toward the town than in this direction.

Cautiously, pistols drawn, they crept up the ramp and into the Marauder. The pistols weren't needed. Chiana was spinning around slowly in the pilot's seat, and the two commandos were sprawled out on the deck.

"I told you it wouldn't be a problem," Chiana said with another impudent smile.

"All right! Let's get them out of that armor."

With the three of them working at it, it didn't take long. Crichton and Aeryn donned the armor, then he carried the commandos out of the ship and back to D'Argo. Each time he was out in the open, he had to worry about discovery, but he was never spotted.

Finally, he and Aeryn took up their positions outside the ship. Once again, the wait began.

* FAR * FAR *

It would have been hard to miss the Peacekeeper force that came into the spaceport. However, spotting the individuals in the midst of all the armored commandos was a little more difficult. The first group was protecting Scorpius.

Just the sight of the leather-clad Peacekeeper made Crichton's stomach roil, and he had to swallow hard to keep the bile down. If he'd been a better shot; if there had been an opening in the crowd surrounding Scorpius, Crichton would have been tempted to shoot him.

Before he could follow up on the temptation, Scorpius boarded one of the Marauders while the squad that had been guarding him started to disperse toward other Marauders. A second group marched up, and this time they surrounded Richie Ryan.

Even from this distance, Crichton could see that Richie's hands were cuffed behind his back. He also didn't miss the fear on his friend's face. It was pretty obvious that Richie wasn't going voluntarily.

So much for Jool's story. Crichton mentally kicked himself for ever believing that Richie could have betrayed them.

Once again, Crichton had to fight the urge to start shooting. Getting into a firefight here would be disastrous to them all. There was no way they could win.

"We'll rescue him," Aeryn whispered in his ear. "Just remember to do everything I told you." She'd spent the time while they waited drilling proper procedures into him.

Crichton wished he could see her face, but her helmet made that impossible. Was she feeling as guilty as he was? They should have tried to rescue Richie. He should have trusted his instincts about his friend.

A nudge from Aeryn brought his attention back to the present. Three of the commandos were headed for them. He and Aeryn stepped aside and let the others board the ship, then quickly followed them up the ramp.

"Drop your weapons!" Aeryn ordered as soon as they were all inside, aiming her pulse rifle at them.

"What do you think you're doing?" one of the others growled at her. "What kind of game is this?"

She ripped off her helmet while still keeping her gun trained on them.

"It's the traitor, Aeryn Sun!" another commando almost yelled out.

"Drop your weapons or die," Aeryn ordered again, her voice deadly serious.

Crichton didn't think they would do it. He had visions of them shooting it out in the Marauder. If that happened, there probably wouldn't be many survivors. After a few tense moments, the other commandos finally lowered their weapons to the floor. Now it was his turn. He quickly handcuffed the three commandos, then pushed them toward the door. He took a quick look around outside. The rest of the Marauders had sealed their doors, and one was already lifting off.

He waved to D'Argo, then pushed the commandos out of the Marauders.

* FAR * FAR *

"That tralk! That lying, stinking tralk!" Chiana ranted as she helped to tie up their new prisoners. "When I get my hands on her, I'm going to rip out every one of those red hairs of hers."

"Now, Chiana," D'Argo said, trying to keep his voice calm and smooth. "We don't know that Jool lied. Just because they had Ryan in handcuffs doesn't mean that he didn't turn himself in. We both know how well Peacekeepers keep their word."

"No. I won't believe that Richie turned himself in. If he had, we would have had a command carrier here looking for Moya. Jool lied to us."

"Maybe she did," D'Argo reluctantly admitted. "But we don't have time to worry about Jool."

Chiana didn't look happy, but she finally nodded. "What about them?" she asked, looking at their five captives.

"Someone will eventually find them," D'Argo said. "But we'll be long gone before then. And with a Marauder at our disposal, we can go anywhere we want." Hopefully, when the commandos were found, no one would suspect that their missing Marauder was on its way back to the command carrier.

* FAR * FAR *

Richie knew he was doomed as the ship took off from the planet. There had been no rescue attempt. His so-called friends had abandoned him. He was on his own - and at the mercy of Scorpius. Except he didn't think the half-Scarran, half-Peacekeeper knew the meaning of the word.

Right now, he wished Crichton had never told him about the Aurora chair. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. He knew he would end up in it, and, thanks to his friend, knew it would be the worst thing he had ever had to face. Would he be able to keep his greatest secret from Scorpius? Would he be able to block out the fact that he could die if his head was chopped off? Or should he let them know it? Tell them how to kill him permanently? If he did, would Scorpius eventually put him out of his misery? Or would the idea of being able to torture someone for as long as he wanted be too much of a temptation to Scorpius?

No, he couldn't give up. He would have to try to find some way to get free. Or maybe he just needed to keep Scorpius occupied long enough for Crichton to do whatever he planned to do to stop Peacekeepers from being able to create wormholes. Stopping that had to be the highest priority.

He turned his attention to Scorpius. "Hey, didn't anyone ever tell you that leather tails and a leather mask only belong in the movies? I'd get a new tailor if I were you."

The man just smiled at him. "You will soon lose your bravado. And I doubt that it will take very long." He snapped his fingers. "Braca, let's see how well our guest can heal himself."

The Peacekeeper that Richie had pegged as a flunky, quickly moved up to the chair that the Immortal was tied to. He pulled out a knife and slowly cut through Richie's new shirt. Then even more slowly, he ran the blade from the human's right shoulder, diagonally down across his chest, to the left side of his waist.

Richie gritted his teeth at the pain, determined not to scream. He felt like his chest was on fire, and he struggled to breathe. The cut hadn't been that deep, but it had been excruciatingly painful due to the slowness of the knife's movement.

Scorpius moved closer as lightning bolts flickered across his captive's chest, and the wound healed itself. "Amazing," he breathed out. "Again, Braca."

Richie lost track of the number of times he was sliced open during their flight. They never hurt him seriously enough for him to die, nor was he able to retreat into unconsciousness. All he could do was endure the pain, and concentrate on not screaming.

And deep inside a spark of hatred for Crichton and the rest of Moya's crew flickered to life.

* FAR * FAR *

"There it is," Aeryn said."

Crichton looked out the viewport. He'd forgotten just how big a command carrier really was. "How will we find Richie on that?"

"My guess is that there's only one Aurora chair onboard. And that will be near the detention cells. I know where those are. My bigger concern is how we will find out where they are working on the wormhole knowledge. That can be in so many areas. We'll need to split up."

Crichton wasn't happy with that plan. "I think we should stick together."

"The only way we are going to be able to accomplish both our goals is to do them at the same time. If we rescue Ryan first, Scorpius will know we're there, and send all his troops to protect his research."

"Okay, so we hit the research lab first. Then in the confusion, we rescue Richie. Besides, I'll probably get lost if I have to wander around that thing by myself."

"You're probably right," Aeryn agreed - way too quickly, in Crichton's opinion.

* FAR * FAR *

Richie tried to hide his fear as he was fastened in to the Aurora chair. Even though he knew it was useless, he still fought against the metal bands around his wrists and ankles. And when they brought down the headpiece and pushed it against his forehead, he felt doubly trapped.

"There's no escape," Scorpius calmly told him. "Your struggles are a waste of energy." He lifted one hand, and a man standing behind a console pushed some buttons so that the whole platform started to slowly spin. Scorpius watched the young man go around several times before stepping up on the platform. "Shall we start?"

"I wouldn't stand there if I were you," Richie said, trying to hide his fear behind his smart mouth. He was usually pretty good at that. "I have motion sickness. Never could stand things that spin. You might end up with a very smelly mess on you."

Scorpius ignored his comment and raised his hand again. Sudden intense pain shot through Richie. It felt like someone had run a red-hot knife through his brain. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt more like an eternity. Before he could recover from the first attack, it happened again, lasting longer this time.

The blue plate in front of Richie showed a diagram of what he could only assume was his brain. It was little more than colored lines inside a skull. For a brief moment, he thought that maybe the chair wouldn't work on him. Scorpius ruined that idea at once.

"It will take some time to map your neural network, but soon you will tell us all we want to know."

The pain was back, seemingly even worse than before. Richie struggled to breathe through it, already feeling sweat beads forming on his face. A brief respite, then more pain.

"Hey, you'd be a big hit with the S&M crowd back home," Richie forced out during the next lull. "You even have the costume-" He couldn't finish as the pain tore through his brain again.

Images started to appear on the plate in front of them. They were just quick flashes, and Richie was barely able to register them as they seemed to change. Tessa. Racing motorcycles. Duncan. Jail. Angie. The antique store.

Pain again. Sweat was running down his back, sending a shiver through the young Immortal. More current images. Richie flying planes. The space shuttle. Richie knew what would be next and he fought to suppress it. For a short while he was able to, but eventually the machine dredged up the memories of the Farscape module, and John Crichton. And Earth as seen from outer space.

"So, you are from Earth, and you do know Crichton. I wonder if you have the wormhole knowledge, too." He raised his hand, and the operator twisted a dial.

Richie screamed in agony. How had Crichton survived this? He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but scream as more images appeared. He could have lived without seeing these memories again, but he was forced to watch as the Collaroy crew slowly suffocated to death.

Suddenly, the image wavered, and then changed. The only problem was that Richie had no idea where it had come from. He recognized Duncan, but the other Immortal was wearing clothes that he normally wouldn't have been caught dead in. Plus he had long sideburns that he definitely didn't have now. He and another man were apparently building a house - although it was in the early stages. They seemed to be doing more talking and smoking cigars than building until a young woman dressed in an old-fashioned gown drove up in a horse-drawn wagon.

"I don't remember this," Richie muttered.

Pain sliced through him again. This time the setting looked like an old western town. Duncan was there, again, this time wearing a long apron, and sleeve protectors. He was standing between a young man and another Immortal that Richie recognized. He watched as Mako gunned down the young man while Duncan tried to get out of the way.

Richie finally understood what was happening. Somehow, the Aurora chair had tapped into the memories of other Immortals - ones who had lost their heads to Richie.

"This can't be right," Scorpius muttered. "He must be from a more primitive planet. I want to see how he got to Earth, and his relationship with Crichton."

The operator twisted another knob, then slid a lever up. Richie almost blacked out from the pain. Now the images were of Kristov and his raids with what had to be the Cossacks.

"These aren't his memories!" Scorpius ground out. "He is not even in these images! What is wrong with this machine?"

"All indicators show that everything is working normally."

"Apply more power!"

Richie screamed in agony, then let blessed unconsciousness claim him.

* FAR * FAR *

"That has to be it," Aeryn stated. "It's next to a launch bay so that they can try out their shielding. It's heavily guarded. And it's filled with scientists."

"So, now what?" Crichton felt like he was way out of his depth here. This was Aeryn's world - hopefully she could come up with a plan. And if things went wrong, they'd have to rely on his ability to improvise to get them out of trouble.

"We can get explosives and blow up the equipment. That should do it."

"Wouldn't their info be in their main computer?" Crichton asked. "Blowing up the lab wouldn't get that data." He stared at the lab, trying to come up with an idea. "If I could get in there, I might be able to get into their computers and destroy the data. Then we can blow up the lab."

"They probably aren't working around the clock. If we wait for a few arns, the lab may empty out." "Great. So, let's go find Richie."

"We can't risk it," Aeryn insisted. "Which is more important - rescuing Ryan or stopping Scorpius from getting wormhole technology?"

Crichton didn't know how to answer that one. A large part of him thought that rescuing his friend should take priority, but if they didn't stop Scorpius, millions could die. How had that Star Trek movie gone? Did the needs of the one ever outweigh the needs of the many? Spock would have said no. Kirk would have said yes.

"We have to stop Scorpius!" Aeryn reminded him.

"All right. All right. We take care of the lab, then go for Richie. Where can we get some explosives?"

"This way."

* FAR * FAR *

He was dreaming. Make that having a nightmare. He'd open his eyes and be back on Earth. Or at least back on Moya. No one could have come up with something like the Aurora chair. All he had to do was open his eyes, and he'd wake up.

"He's conscious."

"Very well, start again."

That was all the preparation time that Richie had as another lightning bolt sliced through his brain. His eyes flew open as he screamed in agony. There was no relief this time. The pain continued unabated as images once again formed. The Immortal had no trouble recognizing the two other Immortals in the vision - Carter Wellan and Haresh Clay. Except he'd never seen them riding horses, and he'd never seen Clay wear a turban. It had to be one of Wellan's memories.

"No! Find me the memories that deal with Crichton! I have to know if Crichton would give himself up for him!" Scorpius ordered.

"He won't," Richie mumbled. "If he cared about me, he would have tried to rescue me before you got there."

Scorpius moved closer. "Tell me about Crichton and I'll let you go free. I promise."

Richie almost gave in as the pain abated, then he remembered something. "Just like you promised to let Jool go back home? Right. No deal."

"Find me those memories. I don't care how long it takes!"

* FAR * FAR *

There were still two people - although one was so alien, Crichton had a hard time thinking of him as a person - in the lab. "We can't wait any longer," he insisted.

"All right. Let's do this." Aeryn led the way into the lab, her pulse rifle ready for anything.

"You can't be in here!" the alien-looking one said, distress evident in his tone.

"Be quiet!" Aeryn ordered. "Move over there," she added, motioning with the rifle.

Crichton hurried over to the console and set to work. Hopefully, his time spent studying Moya's systems would help out here, but it was taking longer than he'd thought it would.

"How much longer?" Aeryn hissed.

He ignored her, and kept working. Finally, he found what he needed. Equations started displaying on the panel in front of him. "Here it is. Now I just need to delete it."

"No! You can't do that!" the alien cried out, rushing forward.

Crichton jumped as the pulse rifle was fired once, then again. The two scientists were lying on the floor with Aeryn standing over them.

"I didn't have a choice!" she insisted, angrily when he glared at her. "Hurry up before someone comes to check it out."

He went back to his work, deleting all the data that he could find. "Damn! We've got problems, Houston."

"What is it?" Aeryn asked. "Can't you delete the data?"

"I can delete some of it, but the entire command carrier is part of the experiment. We'd have to blow up the whole ship to stop them."

"We don't have enough explosives to do that," Aeryn snapped back.

"I know that. This will at least slow them down a little bit." Crichton went back to deleting what he could. He also turned loose a computer virus that Pilot had helped him with. He didn't know whether it would be successful or not, but it couldn't hurt.

"Let's blow this joint," he said as he stood up.

Aeryn passed him a bag full of explosives, and turned away to plant her own devices. It took almost no time at all, then they ran out of the lab. Crichton knew they had to get far enough away before the bombs went off, otherwise they could get caught in the backwash of the explosion. Plus, they didn't want to be captured by the troops who would swarm down here after the bombs exploded.

"Let's find Richie!" he yelled at Aeryn as they ran down the corridor.

* FAR * FAR *

"Sir! There's been an explosion in the lab!"

Scorpius spun around. "What?"

"There's been an explosion in the lab!"

"I heard you the first time. How bad is it?"

"I don't know, sir. There seems to be some confusion."

"I'll check it out myself. He can wait until I get back," Scorpius said, glancing over at the young man in the chair.

Richie couldn't stop the sigh from escaping. He felt like he'd been in the chair for days, but he knew it hadn't been that long. He couldn't stop the shudders that ran through his body, or the little hitches in his breathing as he struggled to fill his lungs. His brain felt like it had liquefied in his skull, and he was having a hard time concentrating.

Maybe Scorpius would be away long enough for his immortal healing to make him feel better. Richie could only hope so. He'd been so close to telling the Peacekeeper everything just to stop the pain. He let his eyes drift shut as he tried to calm his body and his mind.

The sound of weapons fire interrupted his brief nap. His eyes flew open and he saw two commandos wearing full body armor and helmets in the room. The man who'd been running the controls was slumped over his console. While one of the commandos waited by the door, the other one went over to the console, and pulled the body away from it.

Richie wasn't quite sure what was going on, but a moment later, the metal bands holding him to the chair popped up. He reached up and pushed away the headpiece, then tried to stand. Unfortunately, his legs refused to cooperate, and he crumpled to the floor.

The commando rushed over to him, and Richie couldn't help but cringe back, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Richie, it's me, John," the commando said, reaching up to rip off his helmet. "Just take it easy."

"You're late," Richie said, somehow managing a grin.

"Sorry. Got caught in traffic. Let's go." Crichton helped Richie to his feet, then over to the door. "We need to get to the hangar bays."

Richie didn't remember much of their journey. He vaguely recalled hearing weapon fire, and being pushed up against walls several times. His first clear vision was after they'd somehow gotten away from the command carrier. Crichton was in the seat in front of him, flying the Prowler. He looked out the window and saw another one nearby.

"We made it?" he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Not quite yet," Crichton replied. "If we can get back to Moya, she can starburst us out of here, but the bad guys are catching up." To prove his point, a small explosion near the left wing made it clear that they were still in plenty of danger.

"Where's Han Solo when we need him?" Richie quipped.

An explosion behind them caused both of the humans to swivel around, trying to see what had happened.

"Yes!" Crichton yelled out. "Way to go, Crais! Good shooting, Talyn!" He turned and threw Richie a big grin. "Just like Star Wars - except Han Solo was more trustworthy than Crais."

A voice crackled over the intercom as another explosion lit up the sky. "That's the last one. And you're almost to Moya."

"Thanks, D'Argo. You and Crais did a great job. Pilot, do you have the docking web ready?"

"Yes, Commander. And Moya is ready for an immediate starburst once you are all back onboard. Did you rescue Richie?"

"We sure did. And we've slowed Scorpius down on his wormhole technology, too. Now we'll have time to plan a bigger and better attack on him."

In the distance, Richie could see Moya. He couldn't stop the tears from running down his face as he realized he was safe again.

* FAR * FAR *

Richie's legs refused to cooperate as he climbed out of the Prowler once they had landed on Moya. It took all of his concentration to keep from sliding to the floor in a heap. He was afraid to let go of the ship in case that was the only thing really holding him up.

"You all right, Rich?" Crichton asked, placing one hand on the Immortal's shoulder.

"I'll live," he replied, pulling away, although he wasn't quite sure why he had. "I need a shower."

"Can you make it to your room alone, or do you want some help?"

"I don't need your help!" Richie snapped back, then was instantly contrite. "Sorry, man, I guess I'm still a bit tense."

"It's okay, I understand. Go clean up, and then come out to the center chamber. We'll fix something to eat and have it ready."

Richie nodded, then headed out of the docking bay. He walked past D'Argo, Aeryn, and Chiana, who had just joined them without saying a word. The Luxan called out Richie's name, but the Immortal kept going.

"What is wrong with Ryan?" D'Argo growled as he joined Crichton. "You'd think he be grateful that we rescued him."

"He's just spent arns in the Aurora chair," Crichton reminded them. "He just needs some time to recuperate. Where's Crais?" he asked as he felt Moya starburst.

"He and Talyn have already done their own starburst," Pilot said.

"Damn! Crais has run off with Talyn again. I *knew* I couldn't trust him!" Crichton fumed.

* FAR * FAR *

Everyone worked together to create a small feast to welcome Richie back, as well as to celebrate their small victory against Scorpius. But when the young Immortal showed up in the center chamber, he didn't look like he was in the mood to party.

Crichton almost dragged Richie to a chair, and pushed him down into it, before sitting down next to him. He quickly started passing dishes around the table, and everyone helped themselves to their favorites. Once everyone had their plates full, he raised his glass of reslak.

"A toast," he announced. "Here's to our first step in stopping Scorpy."

"Hear, hear!" everyone else called out, raising their glasses, too.

"And here's to us all being back together, safe and sound!" Crichton added.

"We're not all back together," D'Argo growled, glaring at Richie. "What about Jool? What happened to her?"

"The bitch betrayed me," Richie snarled back, one hand coming up to rub at his forehead. "She deserved what she got."

"What do you mean? What happened to her?" D'Argo asked, shooting to his feet.

"Scorpius ordered her execution. She had to face what she had done."

Crichton glanced at his friend in concern. Richie sounded totally unconcerned with Jool's fate at the hands of Scorpius. Even knowing that the Interon had turned in the Immortal, it still didn't sound like his friend.

"So, what did you do to Scorpy?" Richie asked, sounding more like himself.

"We deleted as much of his data as we could, blew up his lab, and killed several of his scientists," Aeryn explained. "That should slow him down for a while."

"You killed people?" Richie jumped to his feet, his chair falling back to the floor with a crash. "You're all a bunch of murderers and thieves. I'm going to do everything in my power to see that you all get what you deserve! You will see your day in court! You have to follow the letter of the law, even if you don't like it! Just wait until we get to another planet where there are Peace-"

D'Argo's tongue lashed out and stung Richie's neck. The Immortal slid to the floor, unconscious.

"Why'd you do that?" Crichton demanded.

"He was being obnoxious," D'Argo replied. "I think that Aurora chair must have messed with his mind even more than it did with yours."

Crichton couldn't help but wonder, too. Richie definitely hadn't sounded like himself, but wouldn't it have taken longer for the symptoms to manifest themselves? It had taken months before he'd started noticing the effects after his bout with the chair.

A low moan brought his attention back to his friend. Obviously, his healing power made him more impervious to D'Argo's knockout venom. Richie was already stirring and trying to sit up. He reached out a hand and helped the Immortal back to his seat.

"What happened?" Richie moaned, resting his head on his hands.

Crichton exchanged looks with the rest of the crew. "You were... uh... getting a little excited and D'Argo decided you needed to calm down a bit. Do you remember what we were talking about?"

Richie lifted his head and frowned at the other human. "Um... you were making a toast, I think. I remember my head hurting, then I woke up on the floor. Did I pass out?"

"Something like that," Crichton said, not wanting to start a feud between Richie and D'Argo. "Let's eat, and we can talk later."

It was one of the most uncomfortable meals that Crichton could ever remember. No one seemed to know what to say - too worried that they would trigger another outburst from Richie. It was no longer a festive occasion, and everyone just concentrated on eating.

When everyone had finally finished, Crichton decided to try talking to Richie again. Maybe with a full stomach he would be more reasonable.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?" he asked Richie.

The Immortal sighed. "Everything was going great, then Jool led me into a trap, and five Peacekeepers jumped me. I was just about to make a run for it, when Jool took one of their rifles and shot me. They were a little surprised when I came back to life, and they threw me in a cell. When Scorpy showed up, I found out that Jool had made a deal to get passage home in exchange for turning me in. She also told them I was from Earth." Richie sighed again and shook his head. "Scorpius ordered her execution. I don't know whether they actually did it or not. They didn't let me hang around to find out. The lieutenant seemed shocked at the order, so maybe he didn't follow it. I'm just glad she didn't betray the rest of you."

"See, I told you the tralk lied!" Chiana exclaimed. "She told us that you turned yourself in."

"Is that why you didn't try to rescue me?" Richie turned stricken eyes toward Crichton. "You believed that I would abandon and betray you?"

"No! I wanted to come rescue you, but no one else would believe that you hadn't done it," Crichton insisted.

"Plus, you were the perfect bait to find out where Scorpius was. We figured he would either come here to see you, or have you taken to where he was," Aeryn explained. "That was my idea, so don't blame Crichton. It worked perfectly. We were able to slow down Scorpius and rescue you at the same time."

"I'm just glad you were able to rescue me," Richie said, smiling at the rest of the crew. "And if you slowed down Scorpy, all the better." He rose to his feet. "I hate to break this up, but I'm really tired. I think I'll try to get some sleep."

"Sounds like a good idea," Crichton said. "We could all use some rest."

* FAR * FAR *

Crichton finally gave up and got out of bed. He just couldn't sleep. His mind wouldn't shut down long enough for him to drop off. All he kept doing was reviewing the earlier scene with Richie. His friend just hadn't seemed himself while he'd been raving about them all paying for their crimes, and following the letter of the law.

Was this Richie's real personality sneaking out because he'd been too tired to hide it? Or had the Aurora chair changed him somehow? Richie was immortal, so maybe it had a different effect on him than it had on Crichton. It couldn't be a neural chip - that would have taken longer to have an impact.

With a sigh, Crichton headed up to command. He paused at the door to Richie's room, then decided to check in on his friend. He opened the door, and quietly stepped inside. The bed was empty, and he glanced around the room, trying to see whether Richie was in the room.

Crichton yelled out in surprise as a strong arm wrapped around his neck from behind. He struggled against it as it tightened, but couldn't get free.

"You disappoint me, Crichton," a heavily-accented voice stated.

It took him a few seconds to place the accent as Russian - which made no sense at all. There weren't any Russians onboard Moya. The arm tightened even more, almost totally blocking off his air.

"Not only did you not crush the life out of your enemy," the voice continued, "but you let a comrade be tortured. That is not good."

"Richie?" Crichton managed to force out.

The arm tightened for a moment, then relaxed a little bit. "Don't play dumb. You know who I am. I am Kristov, and I am in charge here. Therefore, it is up to me to punish you for your failures!"

"Let him go." Aeryn's voice was deadly serious.

The arm loosened, then Crichton was shoved away. After recovering his balance, he spun around to see Aeryn pointing a pulse pistol at Richie. The Immortal was just standing there studying her. As he watched, Richie moved closer to Aeryn.

"You are beautiful," Richie said, his voice still accented. "I will take you to bed, then paint you as you lay there totally satiated so that all history will know your beauty." He reached out to brush back a strand of her hair.

"I don't think so," she replied, stepping back.

"Richie, what is going on here?" Crichton asked, stepping up between the two of them.

"Richie is-" The Immortal stopped mid-sentence and raised one hand to his head. He shut his eyes as if in pain, then collapsed to the floor.

"Richie!" Crichton hurried over and knelt down by his friend. He checked for a pulse and found one.

"What is going on?" Aeryn asked.

"I don't know. Help me get him back in his bed."

Aeryn stared at him in disbelief for several moments, then holstered her weapon and helped him. Then she walked over and picked up Richie's pulse pistol. "I don't think he should have this," she said before going out to the passageway.

Crichton followed Aeryn, and found her waiting for him.

"He's dangerous, Crichton. What are we going to do about him? And who is this Kristov person?"

"I don't know. For now, we'll lock him in. Maybe this is only temporary. Maybe he'll be fine in the morning."

"And maybe he'll try to kill us all. You're lucky that I heard you, otherwise you might be dead already."

Crichton didn't know what to say. He couldn't honestly state that Richie wouldn't have hurt him. "Let's wait and see what he's like in the morning. Maybe he'll have a good reason for his behavior."

"And you will probably believe him, too."

"I should have believed in him from the first. Then this wouldn't have happened. I should have rescued him before Scorpy ever got his hands on him. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not your fault. It was my idea to use him as bait."

Crichton sighed. "It's no one's fault. It's everyone's fault." He tapped on his communicator. "Pilot, can you activate the locks on Richie's room? We need to make sure he doesn't get out and hurt anyone."

"Of course, Commander," Pilot responded. A moment later, the green light on the door changed to red.

"Try to get some sleep," Crichton told Aeryn.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going up to command for a while."

"Do you want some company?"

Crichton almost said yes, but at the last moment changed his mind. "No, I just want some time alone. Go back to bed."

* FAR * FAR *

Richie woke up feeling much better than he had the night before. He got up, stretching as he headed for the shower. He still had a small headache, which kind of surprised him. Surely his immortal healing should have taken care of that. He frowned as he remembered waking in the night with his head pounding so bad he couldn't sleep. He'd gotten up, planning on finding something to dull the pain, but he couldn't remember anything else. He didn't even remember going back to bed.

He sighed, but figured he must have done so. After all, he woke up in his own bed, so he must have come back here. Or maybe he'd changed his mind and just gone back to bed without taking any drugs.

He showered, then changed into clean clothes. His stomach growled, reminding him that it was time for breakfast, and he walked over to the door, waving his hand over the opener. Nothing happened. He waved his hand again, and still the door refused to open.

Richie tapped on his communicator. "Pilot, my door won't open. Is something broken or am I doing something wrong?"

"I will tell Crichton that you are awake," Pilot responded.

"That didn't answer my question," Richie said. "Why am I locked in?"

"Crichton will explain."

Richie paced around his room, while he waited for the other human to show up. Why had he been locked up? What was going on? He hurried over to the door when he heard the sound of footsteps. A moment later, Crichton and Aeryn came into view.

"What's going on?" Richie demanded. "Why am I locked up?"

"Do you remember last night?" Crichton asked.

Richie sighed. "Yeah, we had dinner then I came down here and went to bed. What's the big deal?"

"You don't remember anything after that?" Crichton exchanged glances with Aeryn.

"Well, I remember waking up with a headache, but that's about it." There was no reason to tell them about not remembering how he got back to bed.

"Do you know who Kristov is?"

"Kristov?" Richie's legs went rubbery and he quickly sat down on his bed. "How do you know that name?"

"Who is he?" Crichton persisted.

"He *was* this really bad Immortal. He kidnapped me to force a friend of mine to kill someone. Except he refused to play along."

"Why would you think you were Kristov?"

"Um..." Richie glanced nervously at Aeryn. She didn't know the whole truth about Immortals and the Game - he'd only told Crichton. How could he explain this without giving up his biggest secret? "Can we talk about this in private, John?"

"No. You're going to have to tell both of us. Last night you called yourself Kristov while you were choking me. You said I had disappointed you, and you were going to punish me. Before you had a chance to follow through, Aeryn showed up and helped me out."

"Oh, man," Richie moaned, resting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, John. Did I hurt you?"

"No. You also acted strangely at dinner last night. Kept going on about us having to pay for our crimes."

"Mako. It had to be Mako." Richie shook his head in disbelief. "I don't remember saying anything like that. I don't remember being Kristov, either."

"Is this Mako another Immortal?" Aeryn asked. When Richie nodded, she continued, "Why are you acting like them?"

"Because I took their heads," Richie stated. "I hold their Quickenings. When I was in Scorpy's chair, I kept flashing back to their memories - as well as other Immortals who I've killed."

"How do you kill someone who is immortal?" Aeryn asked.

"You chop off their heads," Crichton replied. "That's when you get their memories, right?"

"Yeah, but I've never heard of anyone being controlled by an Immortal they'd killed - well, except for a Dark Quickening." Richie jumped to his feet. "Maybe this is like a Dark Quickening! Maybe I won't recover from this!" He hurried over to his bag, drew his sword out of it.

Aeryn quickly pulled her pulse pistol. "Drop it, Ryan!"

Richie stopped where he was, then held up a hand in entreaty. "No, I'm not going to use it. I want John to take it." He flipped it around, and passed it through the door, hilt first. "If I don't get better... I can't stand the thought that I might... Just use it if you have to."

"I'm not going to do that!" Crichton stared in horror at the sword. "What's a Dark Quickening?"

"It's when the Quickening changes the Immortal who receives it. They become overwhelmed with evil, and set out to hurt anyone they can."

"Well, you're not acting that way - at least not yet."

"Take the sword, anyway. Use it if you have to. Or use D'Argo's. Just don't let me hurt anyone. Promise me that you won't let me hurt anyone."

When Crichton still didn't take the sword, Aeryn stepped forward and took it for him. "I promise, Ryan," she said.

"So, now what?" Richie asked, then gasped as his head seemed to explode.

"Richie, what's wrong?" Crichton asked, worry evident in his tone.

"My head," he managed to get out. He fought against the pain, trying to not give in to it. He could hear the voices in his mind clamoring at him, trying to break through. Finally, the pain receded, and he crumpled to his knees.

"Who are you?" Crichton asked.

"Still Richie. I think."

"Good. Maybe this is only temporary," Crichton said, then tapped on his communicator. "Pilot, could you post a DRD down here to keep an eye on Richie? Let us know if he does anything strange."

"I'll send one down immediately, Commander."

Richie slowly got to his feet, then went back over and sat down on his bed. "If I don't get better, promise you'll take my head," he pleaded with his friend. "I don't want to keep changing into different people."

"I promise," Crichton replied. "For now, how about some breakfast?"

"Sure, why not? I don't have anything else to do."

"I'll bring you a tray as soon as I can. Try to get some rest, Rich."

"Okay." With that, Richie stretched out on the bed.

* FAR * FAR *

"Do you believe him?" Aeryn asked as they walked back down the passageway. "Especially the part about chopping people's heads off?"

"Yes, he told me about that before, but asked me to keep it a secret. He didn't want everyone to know how he could be killed. He also explained about how Quickenings were the strength and knowledge of the other Immortal. So, I guess it makes sense that he'd have their memories."

"And now they're controlling him, just like the neural chip that Scorpius implanted was controlling you."

"It's not quite the same thing. Scorpy didn't really control me first. I was just seeing him all over the place. It wasn't until the end that he took over. And even though the neural chip was removed, he's still there, but I'm the one in control."

"But there's no neural chip to remove in this case - or maybe there is."

"We have no way of finding out whether there is or not. Maybe Rich just needs to have some time to recuperate."

"Maybe, but he's going to stay locked up until I'm convinced that he's all right," Aeryn stated firmly.

"I agree."

* FAR * FAR *

When Richie woke up, the first thing his eyes settled on was the new decoration in his room. He bolted out of bed and stared at the wall - and the artwork he'd apparently created using the meal he'd been brought the night before. He remembered setting it aside because he hadn't been hungry. The tray was still there, but the bowls held just traces of the same colors on the wall. "Oh, man," he moaned, sinking down to sit on the floor.

"Want to explain that?"

Richie turned quickly, and saw Crichton standing in the passageway. "I must have flipped over to Kristov, again. He had this idea that he was a great artist, but he wasn't. I guess that explains why my head still hurts. Do you know how long I was doing it?"

"Not too long. About an arn. It was quite a show watching you crush your food and mix things together before you hand-painted the wall. Then you collapsed again, clutching your head."

"So, I'm not getting any better."

"I don't know. The episodes are getting further apart. It might just take a little more time."

"I'm glad you think so. I'm not so sure."

"Think positive, Rich." With that, Crichton walked away.

Feeling the need to do something, Richie got to his feet, and began a kata. By concentrating on his movements, he could keep from thinking about the personality switches. He struggled to keep his mind blank, but then he realized he was going about this all wrong.

He'd never been big on meditation, but maybe that's what he needed here. After taking a Quickening, he'd found that it helped calm his mind down. He'd never understood why, but now he had an idea. Maybe the meditation helped him integrate the dead Immortal's Quickening. Maybe that was what he needed to do here. Put all those Quickenings and memories back where they belonged.

He got comfortable on his bed, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees, then he closed his eyes and concentrated.

* FAR * FAR *

"He's been like that for four arns," Pilot stated.

"And he hasn't moved at all?" Crichton asked as he stared at Richie.

"Not at all."

"What is he doing?" Aeryn asked.

"It looks like some kind of yoga or meditation. Maybe we shouldn't interrupt him. Maybe it's something he has to do."

Four arns later, nothing had changed. Crichton didn't know what to do. Should he try to do something to bring Richie out of it? Or should he just let him be? Before he had a chance to decide, he heard Richie take a deep breath. Looking into the cell, he saw his friend open his eyes.

"You all right, Rich?" Crichton asked.

Richie stretched. "Yeah, I'm great." He smiled at his friend. "My headache is gone, and I don't think you'll be seeing any other Immortals showing up."

"How do you know?"

"I locked them back up. As long as I stay out of that Aurora chair, I should be fine, but don't take my word for it. Keep me locked up until you're sure."

* FAR * FAR *

One week later, they held another feast. This one was totally different than the last one. And they had another reason to celebrate. Richie had not had another episode with his personality being switched. Today was the first day he'd been out of his room since he'd been back.

Crichton looked around the room, glad to see everyone in such good spirits. The only ones missing were Jool and Crais. Jool would never be one of them again, and he still didn't trust Crais, so he didn't miss either of them.

It was good to see Richie being accepted by the rest of Moya's crew. He had no idea what their future held, but at least they would face it together.

"Excuse me," Pilot's voice broke into his thoughts. "I hate to interrupt, but I'm receiving the strangest message."

"What is it, Pilot?" Aeryn asked.

"It's not on any of the normal frequencies. That's why I didn't notice it before now. I don't know of anyone who uses these frequencies, at all - except for your module, Commander."

"The message, Pilot," Crichton urged him on.

"It starts out with this - 'Earth calling John Crichton'."

"What?" Crichton jumped to his feet and stared at Pilot's holograph. "Are you sure, Pilot?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Richie come to stand beside him.

"Yes, I am sure."

"Can you track where the signal is coming from?" Richie asked.

"Yes, and I estimate it will take us ten solar days to get there."

"Let's do it!" Richie almost shouted.

"What if it's a trap?" D'Argo asked.

"We have to risk it," Crichton said. "We have to find out for sure."

"But how could we be receiving a signal from Earth?" Richie asked. "Could we be anywhere close to it?"

"I don't know. Is everyone with us on this?" Crichton asked the rest of the crew.

When everyone agreed, Crichton said, "Let's go, Pilot. Follow that signal."

To be continued...


End file.
